College notebeook: CA's Heeb making mark at Columbia

Senior defensive lineman helps Lions to first winning season since 1996, plus more news and notes on area athletes

By Bob Chavezrchavez@messengerpostmedia.com

It’s been a steady progression for Connor Heeb and if there’s anything an athlete wants for his skill set, it’s exactly that.

The senior defensive end at Columbia University is coming down the home stretch of his Ivy League football career. The Lions close their 2017 season on Saturday against Brown University in a 1 p.m. game at Robert K. Kraft Field.

Heeb has been a reliable starter for Columbia the last two seasons, anchoring a defensive line that has helped put the team in position for its first Ivy League title since 1961. It’s a long shot, but still, it’s a shot. The Lions are 4-2 in conference play, one game behind 5-1 Yale. If Yale beats rival Harvard on Saturday in The Game (12:30 p.m., CNBC), Yale is the outright champ.

But Columbia can make a claim by beating Brown (1 p.m. on SNY) and having Harvard beat Yale. Dartmouth, also 4-2, needs to lose to Princeton in order for Columbia to have a chance.

After playing in 8 games as a freshman and 8 more as a sophomore, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Economics major moved into a starting role as a junior. He finished with 22 tackles last season and heading into Saturday’s finale, he’s got 20 tackles. That includes 4.5 tackles for a loss and 1 sack. He’s also blocked 2 kicks and scored a safety. The safety came in last week’s 18-8 win over Cornell when Heeb tackled a Cornell running back in the end zone.

No matter what happens on Saturday, the Lions take a 7-2 overall record into the game and will finish with a winning record for the first time since Heeb was a year old and the 1996 team went 8-2.

Elsewhere ...

Freshman defensive tackle Shane Hernandez (Victor) has 27 tackles, which includes 4.5 for loss and 2 sacks for the Erie Community College football team. He also has 1 fumble recovery for the Kats, who finished 4-5 this season … Another Victor graduate, Dan Brady, was a freshman receiver with the ECC team … The men’s soccer season for Hobart College and Tanner Poisson (Canandaigua) ended with a 1-0 loss to Messiah College in the NCAA Division III Tournament. No. 9 The Falcons (20-2) scored in the 89th minute for a 1-0 victory to give the Statesmen an 11-5-4 record for the season … Zach Dormer (Naples), a freshman forward for the men’s basketball team at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, scored 8 points in his first game this season, a Nov. 4 home loss to Finger Lakes CC … Freshman F Brad Stone (Marcus Whitman) scored 5 points for the FLCC men in the Nov. 4 win over SUNY ESF. He’s played in all 5 games so far this season for the Lakers (4-1) … SUNY Brockport freshman wrestler Thaddus Jeffries (Canandaigua) finished third at 184 pounds at the Brockport Open on Nov. 4 … Sophomore F Moriah Kunes (Naples) is suiting up for the University of Rochester women’s basketball team, which opens its season Friday night at home against Capital University. Kunes missed all of last season with an injury … Freshman G Jori Pistritto (Victor) has played in both games so far this season for the Roberts Wesleyan women’s basketball team … Senior guard Courtney Ameele (Palmrya-Macedon) had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks for SUNY Oswego in a 67-52 loss to Clarkson in Wednesday’s season opener … Freshman F Jonathon Brown (Canandaigua) and the Johns Hopkins University men’s soccer team advanced to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 with a 2-0 win over Cabrini on Sunday. The Blue Jays (16-1-3) play Tufts University on Saturday in Medford, Mass., on Saturday. Brown has played in 18 games (4 starts) this season for Hopkins and has 3 goals and 1 assist.

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